Visa (V.N) and Mastercard (MA.N) on Thursday said they had suspended ties with the advertisement arm of MindGeek, owner of website Pornhub, after a lawsuit raised questions over whether the payment firms could be facilitating child pornography.
A federal judge in California last week rejected Visaโs motion to dismiss a lawsuit by a woman who alleges the company facilitated the distribution of child pornography on Pornhub and other websites run by its parent company MindGeek.
Visa said โwe strongly disagree with this decisionโ and that the company โdoes not permit the use of our network for illegal activity.โ
A spokesperson for MindGeek said the company and all of its platforms, including Pornhub, โhave never toleratedโ child sexual assault content or any other illegal material.
โIt is against our values, and it is against our commitment to ensuring the safest possible online experience for our users,โ the spokesperson said, adding the platform was confident in its safety measures.
Both Visa and Mastercard in 2020 cut ties with Pornhub after The New York Times reported that many videos posted on the adult website depicted sexual assault of children. Pornhub denied the allegations.
However, Fridayโs court ruling created new uncertainty about the role of TrafficJunky, MindGeekโs advertising arm, Visa said.
โAccordingly, we will suspend TrafficJunkyโs Visa acceptance privileges based on the courtโs decision until further notice.โ
Likewise, Mastercard said on Thursday that new facts from the ruling โmade us aware of advertising revenue outside of our view that appears to provide Pornhub with indirect funding.โ
As a result, the company is โdirecting financial institutions to suspend acceptance of our products at TrafficJunky.โ
